For wheelchair users in Aurora, being unable to walk means having limited access to many of the prairie and woodland trails that wind around the city.
But Aurora’s open spaces are more open than ever with the recent rollout of rugged, all-terrain wheelchairs allowing residents with disabilities to explore the trails at the Plains Conservation Center and Star K Ranch.
Brian Green of Aurora’s Parks, Recreation and Open Space Department said the city has spent about $36,000 on two Action Trackchairs, featuring tank-like treads that allow users to cruise over the uneven surface of dirt trails.
Members of the public can reserve the chairs and use them for free. Since mid-March, visitors to the city’s website have been able to block out up to two hours to take an Action Trackchair for a spin. Green counted roughly a dozen reservations made for future dates as of March 25.
“We have over 80 miles of 100% accessible, concrete trails throughout the city, but there are places where we have soft-surface trails that are more difficult for just a regular wheelchair,” he said. “We want people to be able to engage with their family members and others on a hike that’s not just on a concrete trail.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2022, about 5.2% of all Aurora residents had a disability that made walking or climbing stairs difficult. A lack of accessible options for hiking may make the natural world seem out of reach for these people, particularly wheelchair users, and their loved ones.
For Aurora residents Melissa and Christopher Chavez, spending time at the beach and going on short hikes with their sons was a regular fixture of their family’s life in Florida.
After the two welcomed their youngest son, Anthony, and moved to Aurora to be close to Children’s Hospital Colorado, the logistics of hiking with a child who couldn’t walk on his own limited their ability to get back into nature.
At age 2, Anthony Chavez was diagnosed with Joubert Syndrome, a brain disorder that makes it difficult for patients to use their arms and legs, among other symptoms. The condition means the first-grader is unable to walk on his own.
“He can stand, holding onto something,” Melissa Chavez said. “He’s getting stronger and doing amazing, but we’re still really limited.”
Melissa Chavez said her family still finds ways of spending time together outdoors — a few weeks before the city invited them to test out one of the new wheelchairs, Christopher Chavez carried his son on a short hike to Boulder Falls, between Boulder and Nederland.
“I want my kids to realize Colorado is awesome,” Melissa Chavez said. “I felt like crying when the city called, because (Star K Ranch) is right in our backyard. Traveling with a kid with a disability, there’s so many factors and so much equipment. It’s almost overwhelming enough to deter you from going. But this is right here. We know we can just go, and it’s accessible.”
Julie Reiskin of the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, who uses a wheelchair herself, said Aurora’s decision to buy the chairs and make them available for free sets it apart among Colorado cities.
She stressed the importance of free accommodations for people with disabilities, who tend to earn less than workers without disabilities — in 2019, the Census reported that disabled workers on average made about two-thirds of what their able-bodied peers earned.
“I think a lot of disabled people don’t know about these kinds of adaptive opportunities and might not even think about it if there isn’t something offered,” Reiskin said.
“An all-terrain wheelchair takes it to the next level, because what that says is you don’t have to only stay on something that’s really paved and perfect, and you can get out into more of the wilderness.”
Colorado Parks and Wildlife has deployed the chairs in at least three state parks, including Barr Lake near Brighton, which Green mentioned as an inspiration for Aurora’s program.
Green said Aurora considered buying the wheelchairs while developing a new master plan for the city’s 100-plus parks and several thousand acres of open space. One of the priorities of the plan, which Aurora’s City Council indicated its support for March 25, is ensuring all residents are able to access and enjoy city facilities.
The city also recently unveiled a disability-friendly, renovated playground at Fulton Park in east Aurora that features accessible swings, walkways and parking.
“This is a theme throughout the master plan and everything we do,” Green said. “Our leadership is really trying to connect those dots, and find those gaps, and make things as accessible as possible.”
Chavez said she was grateful for the investment by the city and local schools in the success of disabled residents.
“Unless you have someone affected by a medical condition or a disability, there are things you don’t think about,” she said. “But people in Aurora are thinking about it, and they’re taking steps to make a difference.”
The city’s two all-terrain wheelchairs are available to adults as well as children and may be operated using a joystick or by a second person using a remote control. Information about reserving a chair is available at AuroraGov.org/TrackChairs.